Chapter 52: Sadist.

Chapter 52 - Sadist.Even if one ignored the verbal abuse, the physical training was way too exaggerated. The reasoning of making real men out of the youths sounded inspiring, but the training of such intensity could only harm a regular person. Lee was positive his colleagues weren't superhumans and couldn't hold the physical stress in the long run, but he was.

He didn't know though whether he was loosing any lifeforce with the blue spark regenerating him overnight, but he didn't like the idea. Normally he would assist by meditating, but the current training regime and his living arrangements didn't allow it. Obviously he could simply leave, but he kind of liked the challenging environment.

As it turned out, Prides actually hired Lee and the rest of the boys to become horse tamers, trainers and jockeys. At first Lee thought he preferred guys of a small stature because of his own built or some kind of a fetish. But the real reason was surprising – Prides loved horses.

He loved them more than his own life, more than anything. And a single thought of a heavy person burdening the majestic animals made him angry and annoyed.

Of course, he couldn't do anything about the nobles or soldiers riding horses or making them pull carriages, but he could choose his own subordinates. He taught techniques that allowed to tame the horses without hurting them and ride them the way they felt the least discomfort.

And the horses loved him back. Prides was something akin to a horse-whisperer. It looked like he felt what the animals felt, what they wanted and it seemed they understood him when he spoke to them. And while he cursed his subordinates across their sixth generations, he whispered lovingly to the horses with a gentle smile on his face.

After observing the man for a few days, Lee was amazed by his ability. Prides simply hated anything that harmed his beloved animals or caused them discomfort. As the result – Lee couldn't get angry at him and even began to admire the man, and Prides's dualistic personality became amusing in his eyes.

But the problem with the physical over-exhaustion remained. Lee tried different ways to fix it, but only after he trained for over ten days, he found a partial solution. He couldn't meditate while running or exercising, but in the evening he passed out after barely making to his bed.

On the other hand, he had the opportunity and time to concentrate on the blue mist in his abdomen while sitting in the saddle, and letting the horse do most of the job. It wasn't easy and as effective as the regular meditation, but Lee felt energized every time he tried it despite all the swaying and jumping up and down, no matter how short the sessions were.



Of course, since he didn't focus on Prides's or Skippy's instructions, his horseback riding skills looked abysmal, but somehow he never fell off the saddle and the horses seemed to like him. Strangely enough, only Prides's expert eye noticed it, and that was the reason Lee wasn't kicked out despite Skippy's open hints.

Prides agreed with Skippy though – Lee wasn't a jockey material. But the subtle connection the horses seemed to have with him gave the stablehand an idea. While still torturing Lee with the physical exercises like the rest, since the boy, obviously, had to become a real man, Prides made Lee work with the untamed horses, the ones captured in the wild.

As expected, Lee's first steps as a horse tamer were full of panic and fear. It was one thing to jump on a trained and saddled horse, but approaching a five hundred or sometimes even a thousand pound snorting and squealing monster that could easily stomp him to death was a whole another world.

It took a couple of days until Lee understood Prides wasn't punishing him, but actually giving private lessons on taming. His nerves calmed down a bit after realizing that, but Prides repeating relax over and over again told it was still not enough.

"Don't think of them as wild animals." He instructed. They stood in a rather wide paddock, and Lee's current task was to approach a beautiful white stallion, as tall as the black Stella he got to ride on the first day, except this one was supposedly around four years old and captured in a wild several days ago.

From what Lee overheard, it would be one of the two horses Minister Orpen was going to gift the newlyweds, Victoria and Edward, in few months. Apparently it was worth quite a lot despite not being tamed yet.

"Imagine it's a cute, little puppy. If you approach it with panic in your eyes, it'll immediately sense it!" Prides continued to instruct.

Lee glanced at the man, clearly upset, but knew the reasoning was logical. Except he couldn't see how it was possible to apply the concept – he wasn't suicidal yet. The idea of he's more afraid of you than you are of him obviously didn't work in this case, and Lee wasn't ready to entrust his health and life to the hooves of a wild beast.

"Let's try another way." Contrary to the physical drills, when it came to horses Prides was incredibly patient, "Close your eyes and imagine something peaceful. Just stand there, immerse yourself in the picture."

The only peaceful thing Lee could think of was Tess's mediation technique. After practicing it for several years he instantly calmed down, focusing on the blue mist revolving in his abdomen, only to be disturbed a moment later by something wet poking his forehead.

"See? It's not that hard if you really try!" Lee heard Prides's voice, but after opening eyes, to his great horror, he realized that the white monster has come over on its own and was currently rubbing it's lips on his forehead.

It was obvious that the huge teeth could bite Lee's face off in an instant, and the best he could do was to quickly shut his eyes, trying to calm the madly racing heart by concentrating on the blue mist again.



Prides, of course, saw it and smiled to himself. It was a rare expression that nobody noticed, but he knew Lee's reaction was the correct one.

He said, "Now stretch out your hand and caress it's neck. Slowly, gently ... it'll be the fist touch of a man it won't hate ..."

A quick thought of which hand he could live without passed through Lee's mind, but then he sighed and decided to follow Prides's guidance. After all, the guy was a horse whisperer.

It wasn't the first time Lee patted a horse's neck. But now he was doing it with eyes closed, and for some reason the strangest sensations sprouted in his consciousnesses. It felt like the horse was trying to tell him something, as if it was troubled and scared. No, it was pissed at the humans for taking away it's freedom and for some reason was complaining to him!

Lee glanced at Prides in shock, but the man stood there, and nodded with a faint smile as if knowing what went on in the boy's head.

"Go!" He said, and Lee guessed the meaning. In fact, it was something the horse was saying as well.

Lee took off his jacket, threw it to the side, and began to walk while the horse followed him. And then he started to run, and the horse happily trotted along. Obviously Lee couldn't achieve horse's galloping speed, but they ran around the paddock for almost half of the afternoon, side by side, and somehow Lee felt happy and invigorated. Or maybe, it was what the horse felt, he couldn't really tell. But it was nice.

At some point they were done and, following the basics, Lee didn't stop right away, but walked the horse for a while. He contently patted its neck and the stallion nickered in return. Of course, the horse was far from being tamed, but the new experience was pleasant.

"Great!" At some point Prides decided to spoil the newly established bromance, "Now go, wear the weights and do twenty laps!"

Lee stared at the man in disbelief, but then sighed and thought to himself, 'He's not a horse whisperer. The guy is a fucking sadist!'